Southern Scotland heads towards wettest year

Recent rains have left the villages of Greenhill and Heck in Dumfries and Galloway looking like islands

Heavy rainfall in southern Scotland has put the area on course for its wettest year since records began.

The Met Office observatory at Eskdalemuir in Dumfries and Galloway has seen 404mm (about 16in) of rain in the month of November alone.

Figures for the year so far already make it one of the wettest on record.

Average December rainfall would almost certainly take this year past the previous highest levels which were recorded in 1928.

This November has already been the wettest month since records began in 1914.

Total rainfall

The previous record for the wettest month was February 1997 when 401.6mm (15.81in) of rain fell. The third wettest month was in January 1928 which saw 390.3mm (15.36in) fall.

By 1800 GMT on Tuesday the area had seen 404.4mm (15.92in) of rain.

The previous record for November stood at 289.8mm (11.4in) in 1938.

The total annual rainfall for 2009 stood at 2,048mm (80.64in) by 1800 GMT on Tuesday.

The south west Scotland observatory has already seen a number of rainfall records broken.

Earlier this year it had the wettest August since records began.

A little more rainfall in November, combined with an average December, would take the total past the 2,223mm (87.52in) set more than 80 years ago.